A radio frequency identification (RFID) system commonly includes a RFID tag, a RFID reader, and a computer or controller. The RFID tag includes an inlay which includes an integrated circuit (IC) and an antenna. The IC is complied with functions in a communication interface protocol, for example, ISO 18000-6C/EPC C1 GEN2, ISO 18000-3M3, or ISO 18000-3. The antenna is laid in the RFID tag by special packaging technique. The reader communicates with the RFID tag and accesses information from it by specified instructions. The RFID tag includes a tag identifier which includes a unique tag serial number and a manufacturer identifier, and further includes a memory space for storing information. Setting program processing parameters of the computer are required for the communication mode between the RFID tag and the reader, wherein the parameters include a communication channel, a session number, a pulse width, a link frequency, a modulation mode, a bit rate, and an antenna transmitting power. When the RFID tag comes within a read range of the reader, the reader can then access information in the RFID tag.
Although there have been more than 1.4 millions of automatic teller machines (ATM) built around the globe to provide 24 hours banking services, yet there are still hundreds and thousands of customers and/or users everyday come to banks everywhere for some financial business. Not only they need to fill out deposit or withdraw or transfer slip, but also are asked in front of bank teller about savings account number, user name, and amount of deposit or withdraw or transfer, also asked to provide signature, seal, credentials for proving one's status, and enter a password to be compared by bank's computer system, after passing the proving one's status and comparing password successfully, can then make a withdraw. These authenticating ways are quite inconvenient for elderly people who cannot hear or see well, therefore, some new RFID tag is expected which will store information necessary for a user to make a financial transaction, and provided with some authentication method for anti-counterfeiting and belonging to the same system, then the drawback of filling transaction slip manually by hand can be eliminated by using such RFID tag.
Currently RFID in HF applications, finance card or credit card has been combined with using cash card to pay expense amount, and widely used in our daily life, for example, paying fees for taking bus, train, mass transit transportation system, making a tour, or shopping, but still sees vehicles stopped in parking lot or toll station on highway to pay the fees, therefore, some new card and system is expected which combines RFID UHF long distance technique and pay cash function, to be placed on vehicle so that fees can be paid while vehicle is moving to eliminate the otherwise required manpower, and suitable to current RFID HF applications as well.
Since in addition to financial business application, RFID tag finds applications in other business fields such as asset management, access control, pay cash, product manufacturing management, hospital drug and care management, and item level tracking, if some method of verifying RFID tag for anti-counterfeiting can be applied to financial business, then the same can be applied to other business fields, therefore the method is also expected to have business category encoded in the RFID tag, then the same can be applied to many business fields at the same time, for example, some device combining business fields such as finance, pay cash, and access control, can be used for making transactions on a new ATM, purchasing in a convenient store, and starting electric facilities in an access control area.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,130,623, which issued on Oct. 10, 2000 to MacLellan et al, an application filed Dec. 31, 1996, there is disclosed ‘Encryption For Modulated Backscatter Systems,’ in which tag, interrogator, and techniques of information exchange in between is mentioned, communication session between a tag and interrogator through a RFID system, intercepting of transferring sensitive information like PIN number by eavesdropper, intercepting of data stored in the tag's memory by fraudulent interrogator, obtaining network service and further stealing data stored in the network by fraudulent tag, all result in major security issues. A method of encrypting the user's PIN is thus mentioned for resolving the leak of sensitive information. However, it is still expected to have more effective method for protecting the sensitive information and ensuring the system safety.
In an IEEE paper, which issued on Oct. 10, 2000 titled ‘A Low-cost UHF RFID Tag Baseband with an IDEA Cryptography Engine,’ in which a mutual authentication scheme based on International Encryption Algorithm (IDEA) is applied to the transferring tag data, but the IDEA engine used between reader and tag needs to add integrated circuit, such implementation not only requires complicated operations, but also increases the system cost.